What digi-cam do you use?

[Jerry.]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

LOL - Pass the monitor clean cloth ! Is this a message from the 'other side' ?....

[T i m]

Hi All,

Slighly OT other than I do (did) use my DigiCam to record some of my DIY and general 'fixing things' efforts?

I first bought a Fuji DX5 (about 6 years ago) that become a DX7 then a DX10 (long story).

I finally died a couple of weeks ago and I'm looking for a replacement (and you guys know a good thing when you see / use it and can find a bargain!).

So, as a replacement for my duff DX10 Fuji have offered me a Finepix A202 for +AKM-79.99.

I believe a neigbour has one and the batteries go flat in about a week, even if the thing isn't used (and apparently this is a 'known' issue).

So, I'm not looking for any super-mega pixel quality but just want something that 'works' under most (and rarely ideal) photographic conditions and that takes std AA cells (I have lots of 2300 NiMH's) and (ideally) SM cards (as I hgave a few).

All the best ..

T i m

[Ben]

Sorry to hear about that, was it serious?

[Mark S.]

Had a few Fuji's ended up with the old version of the S7000 but never used it as it's too bulk to carry about all the time. Sold it and downgraded to a F401. Now replaced by Fuji with the F410 model, about a week after I bought it... typical.

It fits in a pocket, has a zoom lens and the quality and size of images are plenty big enough when printing 6x4's etc.

Most people just use cameras as automatics so too many features just go to waste.

Some sample:

Mark S.

[Colin Wilson]

If it was bad enough to kill `im, i`d guess it was serious :-}

[chris French]

In message , T i m writes

I have an Olympus C2/D120 - 2.1 MP, Smartmedia, 2xAA cells, I bought it almost 2 years ago as factory refurb from Morgan Computers I've been happy with it barring a couple of minor points.

They don't make the model anymore AFAIK, but they do make the C220 Zoom, which looks to be pretty much the same camera with the addition of a 3x optical zoom. Prices when I look the other day (someone asked a similar question elsewhere) where in the GBP 90 -140 ish price range on Kelkoo

[John Stumbles]

My deepest sympathy to your next of kin. What sort of person are they looking for?

:-)

[Ian Stirling]

SM cards would be ideal, if only they had capacities greater than

128Mb. You probably want to think on whether you are willing to lock yourself into a format that will only let you take some ~60 pictures on a card, when in a couple of years 2G compactflash will probably be available, and 512Mb will be cheap.

I'd agree with you on the standard batteries thing.

[DAN]

[T i m]

[T] LOL .. might be soon if those RCD's don't work .. ;-)

All the best ..

T i m ;-)

[T i m]

[T] LOLK ..Well, let's just say the missus was heard to say re my death "His condition is satisfactory' ..

All the best ..

T i m

[Lee]

I have a Fuji A403, but only because it was offered really cheap :) Takes XD memory though, but it doesn't seem to have the battery drain problem when off. Or at least I haven't noticed yet... Eats AA batteries when it's on though :)

Seems to give reasonable images for the small size of the lens, no optical zoom though and it's normal selling price is rather expensive given its lack of features.

If you can get one for £60 or so, then it may be worth a look.

Lee

[T i m]

[T] I didn't advise you to buy it then did I (sort of thing that happens to me!)

[T] Well, that's the issue isn't it .. a mate had a SuperMeggaGigga pixel camera and the memory car would hold 4 shots (bitmaps). Then he would try to ICQ them to me .. as soon as I say the 2MB file size I'd hit cancel and tell him to sendf me the .jpg version|!

[T] True enough. My DX10 that died (not me as it happens) had a few basic 'setting' (res, flash, etc) and I rarely touched them.

Things I have seen on other cameras that I thought I might like are optical zoom and something that process a bit faster?

Some sample:

Nice (Opal still out there?) Does it have a Macro setting Mark?

All the best ..

T i m

[T i m]

[T] They wish!

What sort of person are they

[T] Well, I just read your (and the other funny) reply to the missus and she said re yours:

"For a true 'replacement' someone ugly, fat, bald and lazy"?

So she actually want's someone completely different then ... ?

All the best ..

T i m

[T i m]

[T] Is that the limit? I do have a couple of 128's .. one in the mp3 player one was in the DX10.

[T] (more like ~500 on the DX10 in HiRes ?)

[T] Good point .. I do have 128MB CF card ..

[T] That is a real boon .. especially when we go camping as we have arranged it that the DigiCam, GPS, torches etc all use AA's. We can even charge them in packs on the solar panel when cycle camping ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

[Ian Stirling]

Yes. Back in the day when smartmedia was developed, cards of only 2-4Mb were quite common in cameras.

It depends if you are willing to switch resolutions all the time. I like the convenience of being able to just leave the camera on high res all the time.

It also means you can crop a hell of a lot more, if you find out later you diddn't get the picture you planned for, or if something turned up unexpectedly at the side of the frame.

I seem to have largely standardised on AAA. I spent an extra 20 quid, on a MP3 player I diddn't like the look of quite so much, simply because it diddn't take AAA cells.

10 hours on a battery is OK, but if I then have to find a USB port to plug it into to charge, or lug around a mains adaptor, and if it's going to die irrecoverably in a year or two...

My absolute minimum load is a minimag-solitare and a tiny sony radio (soon to be changed for an MP3 player with radio).

The batteries go in the minimag first, then get swapped into the MP3 player. So I always have fresh batteries in the torch, as well as a spare for the MP3 player. If I anticipate going anywhere, I'll stash another 4 batteries in an emergency charger pack for my phone. (practically the same size as the batteries alone, and adds another capability)

This gives me some 3 to 5 days of music, before having to take along more AAA cells or find some way to charge them.

The other handy thing is a tritium powered permenant light. (well, dims by half in 12 years) Only some 6 quid on ebay, and gives enough light to not bump into things when your eyes are dark adapted, or read text if pressed against it.

Very handy if working in dark places and your primary light fails, as it would pretty much take a direct hard blow with a sledgehammer to put it out, and it's always on.

[Dave Stanton]

Be careful because a lot of new Fujis are going over to Fujis own card.

Dave

[T i m]

[T] Thanks for the nod ... and why *do* they do that? (like we don't have enough formats already ..).

Well, I know why, because that way we will have to buy their expensive cards and readers .. or not!

All the best ..

T i m

[T i m]

[T] Possibly the same as the A201 (is / was it). Our 13 yr old daughter made an elephant cake for my wife's birthday on Thursday (she like elephants .. I made her a lamb casserole ..) and I was asked to take a picture of it before the cake got cut up. I reminded them the the Fuji was dead, but a friendly neigbour had one and would probably lend it to us for a bit of the cake . We ended up taking the cake over to them, took the pictures and I just brought the memory card home to read in my 'reads all formats' card reader ... other than it didn't read XD . (Doh!). ;-( Had to take it back over and get her to email them to me ..

but it doesn't seem to have the battery drain

[T] That's good to know ..

Or at least I haven't noticed yet...

[T] There be less energy in 2 x AA's than 4 (like the DX10 had). Once I went to 2300mA NiMH's the battery life didn't seem to be an issue (nearly a weeks / 128MB cards worth of pics on one set?

[T] Does it have a 'macro' position please Lee (handy for shots of engineering jobs or small things destined for eBay ..)

All the best ..

T i m

[Lee]

It does, not that it really seems to do that much though.. :)

click on specs :) The A403 is a Dixons group "special" I believe, it seems to be an old model, but with the newer CCD design.

Lee